A busy Golden Week spells good news for Macau’s casinos, according to Union Gaming analyst Grant Govertsen, with the city likely on track for a third consecutive month of year-on-year revenue growth.
Govertsen said that his company’s “on the ground” observations differed significantly from recently published negative visitation growth rates, saying “we continue to believe there is a disconnect between reported visitation statistics and casino foot traffic. Our on the ground observations and conversations are suggestive of a material uptick in volume across all gaming segments.
“Broadly speaking, we believe operators are experiencing typical sequential increases in GGR that they would normally see when comparing October Golden Week to the weeks leading up to the holiday. This gives us some confidence that the growth rate seen in September has likely carried through to the early days of October.”
Notably, GGR growth has been seen across all segments, including VIP play where leading junket operator Suncity has “experienced a significant increase in volume that has translated to an even greater share.” However, it remains to be seen whether VP play can continue to show positive signs with the upcoming visit of Chinese Premier to Macau expected to keep players away.
Macau saw GGR grow by 7.4 percent in September on the back of August’s 1.1 percent rise – the first positive year-on-year result in 26 months.
